Overview
This article provides a checklist that you can use to troubleshoot unresolved differences on your bank reconciliation. It is designed to address common issues that may cause these differences.
Note: If you are working on your first bank reconciliation in Breeze, start by ensuring that your beginning balances have been entered correctly.
Complete each of the following steps in the suggested order:
Review the bank reconciliation filters.
Ensure the prior accounting month is closed.
Rebuild the GL.
Review the Bank Balance Exception report.
Compare the net change on the bank statement to your bank reconciliation.
Review the Bank Reconcile History report.
The following sections discuss each step in detail.
1. Review the bank reconciliation filters.
Go to Accounting > Banking > Bank Reconciliation. The Bank Reconciliation screen appears.
Review the following filter fields:
Ending Balance per Bank Statement: This field must match the ending balance on your bank statement. A discrepency can prevent your reconciliation from balancing.
Bank Statement Date: Enter the last day of the month, even if it differs from your actual statement date. Doing so ensures that all transactions from the month appear on your bank reconciliation and that uncleared transactions are correctly represented. If you need to reconcile your bank against several statements within a single month, please contact support for assistance.
2. Ensure the prior accounting month is closed.
Go to Accounting > General Ledger > Close/Open Month, and check the current accounting month.
Ensure that the month prior to the one you are reconciling is closed. For example, if you are reconciling July, you must close June first. July can remain open.
3. Rebuild the GL.
Go to Admin > Toolbox > Rebuild GL, and filter by all properties associated with the bank account.
For best results, run this function starting a few months before the month being reconciled to ensure all recent financial data is recalculated.
4. Review the Bank Balance Exception report.
The Bank Balance Exception report displays exceptions that can cause a bank reconciliation to become out of balance -- for example, receipts that have not been deposited. You can generate this report to review these exceptions and correct them.
Go to Reporting > Bank Reports > Bank Analytics.
On the left side of the screen, select the Bank Balance Exception tab.
Complete the filters and click Display.
There are four types of exceptions that appear on the report -- Undeposited Cash Receipts, Mismatched Dates and Post Months, Checks and Adjustments, and Deposits. The following describes how you can fix each of these exceptions:
Undeposited Cash Receipts: Create bank deposits for any undeposited receipts.
Mismatched Dates & Post Months: Transactions may appear on the report if the transaction date and post month do not fall within the same calendar month. You can fix mismatched dates without deleting transactions using the Update Transaction Date tool. You can find that tool by navigating to Admin > Toolbox > Update Transaction Date.
Checks and Adjustments: Ensure that the transaction date and post month matches.
Deposits: Ensure that the receipt date, post month, and bank deposit date all fall within the same period.
5. Compare the net change on the bank statement to your bank reconciliation.
Many bank statements display the total number of deposits and withdrawals, usually on the first page. Compare these totals to the Cleared Totals section on the bank reconciliation screen in Breeze. This can help you narrow down the issue -- for example, if the total withdrawals on your bank statement is greater than the amount shown under cleared checks in Breeze, it might suggest that there are payments that still need to be recorded.
To calculate the Net Change (if totals are not listed)
If your bank statement does not display deposit and withdrawal totals, you can manually calculate the net change.
Subtract the beginning balance from the ending balance on your bank statement. Then, add the amounts in the Cleared Totals section on the Bank Reconcilation screen in Breeze, and compare the two numbers.
To resolve discrepancies
If the numbers do not match, review the bank reconciliation for possible errors. Some examples of errors include the following:
A transaction is listed on the bank statement but is missing from Breeze. You would need to create this transaction.
A typo was made when entering a transaction. You would need to edit or delete and recreate the transaction.
A transaction was cleared in Breeze, but it does not exist on the bank statement, or vice versa. You would need to adjust the Cleared checkboxes to ensure you only check items that appear on your statement.
You can identify these errors by comparing the bank statement alongside the bank reconciliation screen in Breeze to ensure that all transactions are properly accounted for and cleared.
The goal is for the Cleared Totals section on the Bank Reconciliation screen in Breeze to match the totals on your bank statement or your manually calculated net change.
6. Review the Bank Reconcile History report.
If your bank reconciliation shows a difference despite all the data in the current period being correct, the issue may stem from data that was altered in past periods. You can verify this by generating the Bank Reconcile History report.
Navigate to Reporting > Bank Reports > Bank Analytics > Bank Reconcile History tab.
Review the prior month’s reconciliation. If there are no issues are present, the Difference will be 0.00.
If a difference exists, continue checking earlier months to determine when the issue first appeared.
After you have identified the month in which the issue began, compare your current reconciliation to a saved copy of the original report generated at the time you posted the bank reconciliation, if available, to quickly spot discrepancies.
If you do not have a saved version of the report, compare the bank statement for that period to the Cleared Totals on the report.
Note: This highlights the importance of saving a copy of the bank reconciliation report immediately after posting to preserve an accurate snapshot of Breeze at the time you reconciled your bank.
If you identify a missing transaction, a transaction that should have been cleared in a prior month, a transaction that was unreconciled in error, or similar issues, you can use the Checkbook Maintenance feature to ensure that the transaction has been recorded correctly and reconcile it to the correct month.
After using the Checkbook Maintenance feature, rerun the Bank Reconcile History report for the applicable period to confirm that the difference has been resolved.
If you need help with these steps or are still unable to resolve the difference, please contact Breeze Support.
Note(s):
BillPay Checks will show on Checkbook Maintenance as Other Items instead of Check.
Another troubleshooting tool to utilize is the Collect Processor Report. This can be used to troubleshoot when you have an ACH that is not matching the Bank Deposit. You can review it to locate the separate deposit via the Collect Processor Report.